Typically, an elevator car travels along a pair of opposing guide rails located in a shaft or hoistway of a building structure. It is customary to employ four roller guides per elevator car to guide the elevator car along the guide rails as the car is moved in a shaft or hoist way. Two of the rollers guides are secured to the upper portion of the elevator car in such a manner as to engage the corresponding guide rails. The remaining two roller guides are secured to the lower portion of the elevator car in a similar manner to engage the corresponding guide rails. Typically, roller guides have a plurality of rollers that engage and travel along the corresponding guide rail. Typically, each roller guide includes three or six rollers. The present invention is not limited to elevator roller guides having a particular number of rollers. Rather, the present invention can be used in elevator roller guides having differing numbers of rollers.
A significant problem may arise with conventional elevator roller guides when an elevator car moves transverse or across the guide rails as conventional elevator roller guides cannot readily compensate for this crosswise movement of the elevator car. This is particularly problematic as elevator guide rails are becoming narrower than ever. In conventional roller guides, the transverse movement of the elevator car causes the face roller of the elevator to move across the front face of the rail member of the guide rail. The transverse movement across the front face of the rail member can be so significant that the face roller of an elevator roller guide slides off of the front face of the rail member of the guide rail and/or the face roller loses meaningful and/or substantial contact with the front face of the rail member of the guide rail. Obviously, this will have an extremely adverse effect on the elevator car and its ability to smoothly ascend and descend in a building structure.